????思科（Cisco）收購我之前所創立的公司IronPort花費了6個月的時間，而我在這段時間內則是度日如年。雖然我仍然是名義上的首席執行官，但實際上，我所管理的這個“傀儡”政府的所有聘用工作、重大開支和戰略調整都需要得到即將上任的君王的批準。由于思科是一家在職能組織上井然有序的公司，很快，直接向我匯報的項目將被減半，因為銷售、人事和財務部門將向各自所屬的集團匯報。我的職責會逐漸減少，自由發揮空間也會大幅縮小。而真正讓人進退兩難的問題在于：我與思科達成的協議是，收購交易結束之后，我作為公司創始人的股份可以得到24個月的特別保護，而并購本身就已讓我如坐針氈。我很確信自己并不適合在大公司工作，然而，我只是難以在接下來的兩年中天天望鐘興嘆，然后漸漸地失去理智。我該怎么辦？

????我兒子最近的水球隊訓練讓我受到了啟發。雖然我在佛羅里達州海邊長大，但我并不怎么擅長游泳。我甚至從來都沒穿過Speedo泳衣。我以為我壓根不會喜歡水球運動。但是，如果我在兩年之內每天都觀看同一種體育項目，而且其他的人都在玩水球——那么我還能在泳池邊無所事事地呆坐多長時間？我是不是應該直接采取行動？撲撲水，假裝參與？不，我開始意識到前進的方式只有一種：剃掉全身的毛，穿上speedo，甩甩胳膊，然后聚精會神地加入其中……

????并購交易結束6個月之后，我做出了一個嚴肅而又具體的決定。我強烈要求接管思科（CSCO）所有的安全產品業務——這塊業務比Ironport全部的業務還大三倍。我認為，如果新被收購公司的高管的受限時間很長（也就是說多于18個月），那么，他們應強烈要求在收購公司中擔任更高的職務。這對于那些并不打算在特別保護權到期后留在被收購公司的領導者來說尤其可行。聽起來似乎并不靠譜，但我的理由在于：

????出發點不是你自己，而是你的團隊。如果身為一個團隊帶頭人，你自己郁郁寡歡，整天悶悶不樂，“無所事事”，而且說起話來轉彎抹角，那么你的團隊也會分崩離析，而收購也將失敗。另一方面，如果你擔任了一個更高的職務，那么你就可以利用這一獨特的位置拉他們一把。你欠員工們一個人情，因為那些吃泡面的員工們一開始在你的公司工作時得到的便可能是毫無價值的股票。除了提拔他們在新公司中擔任更高的職務之外，你還可以推薦手下最好的員工去別的公司工作，因為你會了解到更多跨公司工作的機遇。一旦你的團隊看到你加入了新的公司，他們也可能會更加賣力。大多數IronPort的中層管理者在思科的擔子會大幅增加，而這為他們在思科或其他公司擔任更高的職務打下了基礎。有一種說法認為，創業公司的員工不適合在大型公司任職——事實上，很多人都已為這個變化做好了準備。在我們打造IronPort的這8年期間，很多單身員工結了婚，生了孩子，也希望能從大型公司中拿到和現在一樣的收入，福利以及更少的工作時間和更穩定的工作。

????It took almost six months for my former company IronPort's acquisition by Cisco to close and it seemed like forever. Although I was still the CEO by name, I was essentially running a "puppet" government with every hire, major expense and strategic shift needing explicit approval from my soon-to-be-overlords. Since Cisco was a functionally organized company, I would soon be losing half of my direct reports as sales, HR, and finance would report into their respective groups. My job was becoming smaller and it had considerably fewer degrees of freedom. So here was the big dilemma: I had signed up for 24 months of re-vesting my founder's shares that wouldn't begin until the deal was closed and it already seemed like a paint-drying eternity. I was pretty sure that I wasn't cut out for a big company but I just couldn't spend the next two years watching the clock or I'd spiral into insanity. What to do?

????An analogy hit me as I watched my son at recent team practice: Water polo. Despite growing up on Florida beaches, I'm not that great of a swimmer. I've never even put on a Speedo. I didn't think that I would like anything about water polo. However, if I was locked in a sports complex every day for two years and everyone else was playing water polo – how long could I sit on the edge of the pool before I gave it a go? Should I just go through the motions? Splash water on my face and feign participation? No, I came to believe there was only one way forward: shave all the hair off my body, put on the Speedo, start throwing elbows, making shots and playing with vigor…

????Seriously and specifically, after six months in, I strongly advocated to be put in charge of all Security products at Cisco (CSCO) – a business that was three times larger than IronPort. I believe if the leaders of a newly acquired company are locked up for a significant period of time (i.e. greater than 18 months), they should strongly advocate for bigger jobs within the acquiring company. This is especially true if the leader isn't planning on staying around after the vesting period. This may seem like odd advice, but here's the rationale:

????It's not about you, it's about your team. If you're a disaffected leader, moping around, "doing time" and talking smack, your team will disintegrate and the acquisition will fail. On the other hand, if you land a larger role, you are in a unique position to help them out. You owe it to the people who ate Ramen noodles while you paid them in potentially worthless stock to work at your company in the beginning. In addition to promoting some of them to larger roles within your new org, you will be much more connected to the cross-company opportunities and can advocate for your top performers. When your team sees you engaging, they are more likely to pull harder, too. Most of the mid-level managers at IronPort had a significant increase in their responsibilities at Cisco and it prepared them to take on even larger roles both in and outside the company. There is a myth that employees that come from a startup aren't cut out for a large companies - in fact, many may be ready for a change. Over the eight years we built IronPort, many of our single employees got married, had kids and wanted the current income, benefits, lighter work hours, and increased stability of a larger company.